Watch Paparazzi

Rapper Lil Uzi Vert spotted wearing Richard Mille

At the annual Roc Nation Brunch — one of the most photographed gatherings in the music industry, held in the days surrounding the Grammy Awards — Lil Uzi Vert arrived with what may be the single most technically rarefied timepiece ever spotted at the event: a titanium Richard Mille RM020 Manual Winding Tourbillon Pocket Watch. In a room full of exceptional wrists, Uzi's choice to carry a pocket watch rather than wear one underscored just how deliberately unconventional this piece is.

The Richard Mille RM020 is a direct descendant of the brand's foundational philosophy: apply Formula 1 and aerospace materials to classical complications. The case is machined from grade-5 titanium, offering exceptional rigidity at minimal weight. Inside sits a manually wound tourbillon movement — skeletonized to the degree that the architecture of the bridges and baseplate becomes the aesthetic statement. The tourbillon cage rotates on a one-minute cycle, and the movement is visible from both sides through the open-worked dial. Crown and pusher functions are integrated into the case's curved profile, designed to sit elegantly in a waistcoat pocket or, in Uzi's case, to be displayed as wearable sculpture.

Richard Mille introduced the RM020 in the mid-2000s as part of an early push to revisit a format the watch industry had largely abandoned. Pocket watches had become antiques; Richard Mille made one that felt like a prototype from the future. Production numbers have remained extremely small — the RM020 never entered mainstream catalog rotation — which means secondary market appearances are rare and collector demand is concentrated among a narrow group of serious buyers.

Lil Uzi Vert has established one of the most talked-about watch collections in contemporary hip-hop, with a demonstrated preference for Richard Mille across multiple references. The Roc Nation Brunch appearance with the RM020 adds a significant data point to that collecting narrative, signaling a move toward pieces defined by technical rarity rather than purely by visibility or brand recognition.

With an official list price of $680,000, the RM020 sits at the upper tier of Richard Mille's own pricing structure. On the grey market, where examples surface infrequently, prices track at or above retail given the constrained supply. This is not a watch that depreciates in informed hands.